BayelsaPRIME, the teaching and learning methodology that drives basic education reform programme of Bayelsa State, was showcased at the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF) that commenced in London on May 19.
The annual Education World Forum is the world’s largest gathering of education and skills ministers. This year, an estimated 120 ministers drawn from 114 countries focused on the theme, ‘Encouraging AI understanding, building human relationships and resilience, and accelerating climate action. How should we prioritise policy and implementation for Stronger, Bolder, Better, Education?’
Douye Diri, Bayelsa State governor, launched BayelsaPRIME to increase pupil enrollment, address challenges with weak curriculum, teacher truancy and poor learning outcomes in government primary schools.
For early childhood development students using the methodology, the gains were even bigger. Students supported by the methodology gained almost an additional year and half of learning (1.48), learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years.
Now in its second year, BayelsaPRIME is improving teaching and learning by introducing technology, teacher professional development, child protection, paying attention to every child and incorporating analytics in decision making.
In 2022, a study conducted by Michael Kremer, a noble prize winner in economics, in Kenya showed that attending schools delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems.
